Multiplatform Mobile AppDevelopment

Gergely Kis

CEO

MattaKis Consulting Kft.

J2ObjCby

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Introduction● Worked in Mobile for 10 years

– Platform development (Siemens, Android)

– App development● Android, iOS, BB 10, BB Classic, J2ME, Symbian

● Started MattaKis Consulting in 2007

– Cross-platform Mobile Apps since 2008

– Migeran spin-off created in 2013

● Other Technologies

– Embedded Linux (C / C++ / ARM / MIPS)

– Java EE (Spring, Play)

Full Disclosure

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The Multiplatform Challenge

I need an app for ...

Let's createthe same app

4 times!Or think

Multiplatform?

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Anatomy of a Mobile App

Android

Business Logic

UI

Windows

Business Logic

UI

iOS

Business Logic

UI

BlackBerry 10

Business Logic

UI

Seriously?!

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Caveat: App Behavior

● Clients look for identical App behavior acrossplatforms:

– The same data should be displayed

– Operations should do exactly the same thing

– Lot of room for interpretation

Syncing app behaviors is extra effort

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Anatomy of an ideal Multiplatform Mobile App

Android

Runtime

UI

Windows

Runtime

iOS

Runtime

BlackBerry 10

Runtime

Common Code

Promise:

Write Once Run Anywhere

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Caveat: User Experience

● Users look for familiar UX

– Apps are just extensions of the Platform's UX

● Quote from Index.hu:

– „The BKV Futár App on Android and iOS looks the same.And this is a mistake.”

Separate UX Design for each platform

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Anatomy of a real Multiplatform Mobile App

Android

Runtime

UI

Windows

Runtime

UI

iOS

Runtime

UI

BlackBerry 10

Runtime

UI

Plat. Spec. Code Plat. Spec. Code Plat. Spec. Code Plat. Spec. Code

Common Code Savings here!

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Comparing Approaches

SupportedPlatforms

Languages

Tools Ecosystem

JavaC#

JavaScript

Objective-CC / C++

?

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App Types

Hybrid Apps

● Use the WebView of theunderlying platform

● UI simulates nativecontrols in HTML / CSS

● Application codedeveloped in JavaScript

● Limited access to nativeplatform features

Native Apps

● May use additionalruntimes (e.g. VMs)

● Uses the native UI andAPIs

● May use alternativelanguages

● May provide a platform-independent API

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Hybrid Apps

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Native Packaging for Hybrid Apps

● Apache Cordova / PhoneGap

– The oldest, most mature solution

– Supported by all frameworks

– Loads of plugins

● Sencha Cmd

– Specifically designed for Sencha Touch

● Trigger.io

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Hybrid App Frameworks● Sencha Touch

– Mature OO framework

– Device agnostic main theme + custom specific themes

– Abstracts common UI and Device APIs

● JQuery Mobile

– The mobile extension of JQuery

– Works also on the desktop

– Requires an external MV* Framework like Backbone

● Ionic

– Built on AngularJS(with options open for other frameworks)

– Widgets provided as custom HTML elements

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Native Apps

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Source Translators

● Translate Java source codeto Objective-C

● No VM (e.g. no garbagecollection), translated coderuns in the Objective-Cruntime

● UI code is written inObjective-C

● iOS Development in Xcodewith standard tools

J2ObjCby

● Translates DEX bytecode toObjective-C, C# … etc. source

● No VM (e.g. no garbagecollection), translated coderuns in the Objective-Cruntime

● Hand written partial Javabindings for iOS API

● No debugging support

● No IDE support

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Appcelerator Titanium

● JavaScript based API

– Not WebView based

● Native UI components

– Alloy MVC Framework

– Common UI Controls● With platform specific enhancements

● Eclipse based IDE

● Supported platforms

– iOS, Android, BlackBerry, Windows Phone

var myLabel = Ti.UI.createLabel({ text : 'Hello World', top : 250});

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Codename One ● Write Once Run Anywhere Concept

– Common, Swing-like API

– Development on Java Simulator

– Debugging only on host, not on target devices

● Multiple targets

– Android: Implementation of the CodeOne API

– IOS: XMLVM based translator, a new VM is in development

– Windows: Java code translated to C#

● UI Designer for Codename One API

● Cloud based builds

● Some support for additional languages, e.g. Scala or Mirah

– May support any statically compiled JVM language

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Xamarin● Develop apps in C# for multiple platforms

– Android, iOS, Mac

● Uses the Mono Runtime

– Ahead of time compilation

● UI developed separately for each platform

– UI Designer available

● Cross platform libraries

– Xamarin.Forms

– Xamarin.Mobile

● IDE support: Xamarin Studio, Visual Studio

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RoboVM

● Custom VM implementation

– Java bytecode translated to native code ahead of time

● Partial iOS API bindings

– Supports JNI and Bro (custom native binding framework)

● Basic IDE support (e.g. launch on device / iOS Simulator fromEclipse)

● No debugging support

● Supports Java

– Any statically compiled JVM language is possible

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Migeran● Based on Android ART Runtime

● Full Eclipse IDE Support

– Launching, Debugging, Migeran specific Code-Assist

● Eclipse & Xcode integrated

– Storyboards, Interface Builder

– Hybrid Classes

● Nat/J – Native Bindings with AutomatedGenerator

– The full iOS8 API is generated

– Generator included in Eclipse – use in your ownprojects

● Supports Java and Scala

– any language supported on ART is possible

Now Available

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Migeran Demo

http://www.migeran.com

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Convergence of Runtimes

JavaScript (Dynamic) VM„Web Runtime”

Static VM (JVM, CLR)

Unmanaged Runtime (C, C++)

Asm.js

Invokedynamic

AOT Compiler

Type Inference

Where is Objective-C and Swift?

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Questions & Answers

Gergely Kis

CEO

MattaKis Consulting Kft.

[ gk@ ] mattakis.com

J2ObjCby